Detachable inside arm rest for sofa bed



June 26, 1956 F. v. GENTSCH I 2,751,971

DETACHABLE INSIDE ARM REST FOR SOFA BED Filed July 20, 1953 INVENTOR.

FRED V. GENTSCH BY MW,W BM

ATTORNEYS United States Patent DETACHABLE INSIDE ARM REST FOR SOFA BED Fred V. Gentsch, Birmingham, Mich.

Application July 20, 1953, Serial No. 369,110

1 Claim. (Cl. 155-198) This invention relates to sofa beds or the like and more particularly to a sofa bed having inside arm rests which are removably mounted thereon.

A sofa bed or studio couch is designed so that it may be converted from an ordinary couch or sofa of the usual living room variety into a bed for sleeping. In small apartments and especially in house trailers, space is often a limiting factor which must be considered in the construction of a sofa bed. The present construction is designed to reduce the overall length of the sofa to a minimum while at the same time providing ample sleeping space when the sofa is converted to a bed.

One object of this invention is to provide novel means for removably mounting the arm rests on the frame of the sofa bed.

Another object of the invention is to provide a construction wherein the removable arm rests overlie the opposite side edge portions of the sofa, thereby reducing the overall length of the sofa bed without reducing the sleeping space available when the arm rests are removed.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds, especially when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of asofa bed incorporating the features of the present invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged detail view of a portion of the sofa bed shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a side elevational view of the portion of the sofa bed shown in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of an arm rest having a rigid mounting member secured to the underside thereof;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the mounting member shown in Figure 4; and

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the bracket for receiving the mounting member, which is adapted to be secured to the frame of the sofa bed.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, and especially to Figure 1 thereof, the sofa bed is generally indicated at 10 and comprises a supporting frame structure 12 on the top surface of which rests a cushion or mattress 14 which extends for substantially the full length of the frame. The back 16 of the sofa bed is secured to the frame and projects upwardly therefrom and extends along the rear portion of the sofa bed.

Arm rests 18 and 19 are provided at opposite ends of the couch. These arm rests are constructed of suitable cushioning material preferably covered by the desired fabric material and are removably mounted on the sofa bed by means described more fully hereinafter.

Referring now to Figure 4, it will be seen that a rigid bar member 20 is secured to the underside 22 of arm rest 18. In detail, the bar member 20 will be seen to be bent at its mid-portion 24 to provide the diverging legs 26 and 28. Parallel terminal portions 30 and 32 connect into the upper ends of the legs and extend normal to the plane of the legs. These terminal portions are secured to the underside of arm rest 18 by means of a metal strap 34 which is formed with recesses or grooves 36 which 2,751,971 Patented June 26, 1956 clamp over the respective terminal portions. The strap 34 is securely fastened to the underside of the arm rest as by screws 38.

As seen in Figure 2, the leg members 26 and 28 define a depending portion of the rigid bar member which extends downwardly from the outer side edge of the arm rest.

Secured as by screws to a side 42 of the frame is a bracket 44. This bracket may be formed of ordinary sheet metal and comprises the inner flat sheet metal portion 45 and the outer sheet metal portion 46 which is formed in the manner shown in Figure 6 to provide a slot indicated at 48. The outer wall 50 of the slot is spaced from the inner wall of the sheet metal portion 45 a distance which is approximately equal to the thickness of the rigid bar member 2%), and the opposite walls 52 and 54 of the slot converge in a downward direction and together form an angle which is equal to the angle formed by the legs 26 and 28 of the bar member.

As seen in Figure 3, when the arm rest is mounted in position on the sofa bed, the lower end portions of the depending legs 26 and 28 extend into the slot of bracket 44. The opposite walls 52 and 54 of the slot, converging at the same angle as the legs of the bar member, engage the legs of the bar member along the full length of that portion of the legs received in the slot so as to provide a substantially rigid mounting. The weight of a persons arm supported by the arm rest tends to press the legs of the bar member deeper into the slot and thereby further increase the rigidity of the mounting.

The arm rest 19 is removably mounted on the opposite side 60 of the sofa frame by means of a rigid bar member, strap and bracket identical to those illustrated in Figures 5 and 6. Thus a second bar member 20 is secured to the underside of arm rest 19 by a strap 34, and the depending legs of the bar member extend downwardly from the outer side edge of arm rest 19 and are removably received in the slot of a second bracket 44 which is secured to the frame 12 at side 60 of the latter.

A strip of fabric material may be provided if desired to cover and conceal the brackets, being of course open at the top to permit the legs of the bar members to be inserted into the brackets.

When it is desired ,to use the sofa bed for sleeping purposes, the arm rests are removed readily and easily by merely raising the same to lift the legs of the bar members out of the brackets. When the arm rests are again mounted upon the soft bed, the overall length of the sofa bed is not increased, as will be seen in Figures 1 and 2, because the depending legs 26 and 28 extend downwardly from the outerside edges of the arm rests so that the latter directly overlie the adjacent side edge portions of the sofa bed frame. Of course, if more seating space is desired, or required, and there are no limiting space problems, the arm rests may be turned in which case the depending legs will just as easily fit into the brackets and the arm rests will project laterally beyond the opposite sides of the sofa bed frame with the leg members 26 and 28 depending from the inner side edges of the arm rests.

It will be understood that while the arm rests and removable mountings have been described in connection with a sofa bed, they may be applied to advantage on many other pieces of furniture, such as lounges, chairs and the like.

It will also be understood that, instead of turning the arm rests 180 to obtain more seating space as described in the preceding paragraph, the screws 33 securing straps 34 to the arm rests may be loosened permitting the terminal portions 30 and 32 of the bar members to be removed. The bar members alone may then be turned 180 and the terminal portions inserted in the grooves 36 from the opposite side so that the leg portions depend from the inner side edges of the arm rests, after which the screws 38 may again be tightened.

What I claim as my invention is:

In a sofa bed or the like having a supporting frame and at least one removable arm rest, means for removably mounting said arm rest on one side of the frame in overlying relation to the adjacent side edge portion of the frame, said means comprising a rigid bar member bent at its mid-portion to provide legs diverging from said portion, parallel terminal portions integrally connecting into the ends of the respective legs and extending at right angles to the plane of the legs, means for removably securing said terminal portions to the underside of said arm rest, said terminal portions extending transversely of said arm rest and said legs depending from the outer side edge of said arm rest, said securing means comprising a strap removably secured to the underside of said arm rest, said strap having grooves in the upper surface extending transversely of said arm rest and receiving said terminal portions and cooperating with the underside of said arm rest to frictionally clamp said terminal portions, and a bracket secured to said one side of the frame, said bracket having an upwardly opening slot formed with opposite side walls which diverge upwardly at substan tially the same angle as the angle between said legs, whereby to removably receive said legs in said slot.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 120,110 Schindler Oct. 1, 1871 319,491 King June 9, 1885 1,372,205 Smith Mar. 22, 1921 1,753,367 Dickens Apr. 8, 1930 1,993,437 Ferguson Mar. 5, 1935 2,057,611 Fischer Oct, 13, 1936 2,495,849 Kris Jan. 31, 1950 2,619,657 Spagnoli Dec. 2, 1952 

